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Xahizengua
NOTE: Currently being merged with Simplengva. Xahizengua is a Romance language, yet one quite different from the others. Mood is not conjugated, Latin tenses that were lost are preserved, declination is preserved (though only some cases), the progressive is more important, the language preserved three genders (which are far more accurate in describing their noun, pronoun, or adjective), and pronouns are declined, among many other things. Setting Xahizengua derives from Xazõl, a Romance language spoken in an alternate world the area we call Catalonia, southern France, and northern Italy in our world. Xazõl faced large and disliked, yet eventually successful, reforms in the latter part of the 18th, the entire 19th, and the early 20th centuries, which made much of the language more regular, more clear, and imposed some strict rules. In this alternate world, however, which was quite a bit more advanced than ours, civilization was destroyed by nuclear annihilation in 1905. Some three hundred years after the apocalypse, civilization had somewhat recovered. By this point, Xazõl was called Xahizionca. Language and technology evolved over many centuries. The form of Xahizengua described here began to be spoken at around the beginning of the 3900s. Phonology Alphabet Xahizengua has 26 letters in its alphabet. Pronunciation Most letters have a single pronunciation, but a few have two. The letter c'' is pronounced /k/ before ''a, o'', and ''u. It is pronounced /s/ before e'' and ''i. The letter g'' is pronounced /g/ before ''a, o'', and ''u. It is pronounced /ʒ/ before e'' and ''i. The letter q'' is pronounced /k/ if not at the end of a word. If at the end of the word it is pronounced /x/. Stressing Usually, the second-to-last syllable is stressed. If not, the stressed syllable is marked with an acute accent. Diphthongs are considered one syllable. When two vowels are together, which one is stressed depends on which one is a weak vowel and which one is a strong vowel. The vowels ''a, e'', and ''o are strong, while u'' and ''i (and by extension w'' and ''y) are weak. If a strong and a weak vowel are together, the strong one is stressed. If two strong vowels or two weak vowels are together, then which one is stressed depends on the second-to-last syllable. Phonotactics In cases where it would be pronounced /k/, the letter c'' cannot start a word or end a word. In both cases, it is replaced with ''q. The letter k'' can only begin a word. The letter ''i cannot end a word. It is replaced with y''. The letter ''w can only begin a word. Inflection Declension Nouns and pronouns are declined for case, definiteness, number, and gender. Adjectives are declined to match their corresponding noun. Stem form The stem form is the form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective to which declining prefixes and suffixes are added. It is similar to the undeclined form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective, though there are important differences to recognize. *If the undeclined form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective ends in its gender's appropriate vowe''l (''o for masculine, a'' for feminine, or ''e for neuter), the vowel is removed for the stem form. *If the undeclined form ends in a vowel other than the appropriate vowel, then: **if it is o'', ''a, or e'', then it is removed in the stem form and replaced with the appropriate vowel in the declensions--essentially, treated the same as if it was the appropriate vowel after all. **if it is ''u or i'', then the letter ''j is added afterward in the stem form and in all the declensions. *If the undeclined form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective ends in a consonant, then it stays the same in the stem form. Case There are four cases: *nominative: to show the subject of a verb, or to name something *accusative: to show the direct object of a verb *dative: to show the indirect object of a verb *vocative: to address someone Definiteness Definiteness is declined as a prefix to nouns, pronouns, and adjectives. The definiteness-showing prefixes of Xahizengua are similar to the articles of other Latin-derived languages. Number There are two grammatical numbers that are declined--singular and plural. Gender There are three genders--masculine, feminine, and neuter. Declension chart Sample declensions Conjugation Verbs are conjugated for tense, aspect, person, and number. There are also two non-finite forms and a stem form. Infinitive The infinitive form is either the bare form of a verb or the form denoting it as an action (as in the English phrases to buy or to have) All infinitive forms end in ''-ar'', ''-are'', ''-er'', ''-ere'', ''-ir'', or ''-ire''. Regular verbs' infinitives end with the letter r'', and most irregular verbs' infinitives end with the letter ''e. Participle The participle can be used to transform a verb into an adjective (as in English a running man) or transform a verb into a noun (drinking water is healthy). The participle is used in some compound tense-aspects. Stem form The stem form of the verb is the form that conjugational endings are added to. Tense-aspect There are seven basic tense-aspects: *past: to denote that someone or something did an action *habitual: to denote that someone or something used to do an action *pluperfect: to denote that someone or something had done an action *present: to denote that someone or something does an action *present perfect: to denote that someone or something has done an action *future: to denote that someone or something will do an action *future perfect: to denote that someone or something will have done an action However, there are also three compound tense-aspects, formed with the verb iresere, which derives from the verbs for to go and to be, and the participle form of the other verb. They are: *past progressive: to denote that someone or something was doing an action *present progressive: to denote that someone or something is doing an action *future progressive: to denote that someone or something will be doing an action Person There are three persons--first, second, and third person. Number Two grammatical numbers are conjugated--singular and plural. Conjugation chart There are three Conjugations: *First Conjugation: generally -ar and -are verbs *Second Conjugation: generally -er and -ere verbs *Third Conjugation: generally -ir and -ire verbs Though ''-are'', ''-ire'', and ''-ire'' verbs are irregular in stem, they usually have regular endings. There are significant exceptions, though; for example, the verb ir, which is conjugated like a Third Conjugation verb and whose stem is v(a). To demonstrate the First Conjugation, we will use dar, a verb meaning to give. To show the Second Conjugation, we will use the verb facer, which means to do or to make. It has a non-irregular stem change in c''; ''c is changed to s'' when necessary to preserve pronunciation. Finally, for the Third Conjugation, we will use the verb ''uzir, which means to hear or to listen. Word Classes, Grammar Nouns and Pronouns Both nouns and pronouns are declined. Pronoun chart All pronouns are defaultly neuter. They are all of the Fifth Declension, meaning that they can be neuter, masculine or feminine; however, jo, tu, nos, and vos are quite often left neuter even when masculine or feminine declension would seem right, and only declined for gender when gender is important to mention. The pronouns that end in vowels are also irregular. Verbs Verbs are conjugated as shown in the Conjugation section. Adjectives and Adverbs Adjectives Adjectives are declined. Typically, adjectives go directly before or after the nouns (or pronouns) they describe, more commonly after than before. However, they can technically go anywhere else in the phrase or sentence, as they are always declined identically to their corresponding noun or pronoun. This is somewhat common in literature, though considered elitist in spoken dialect. Adverbs Adverbs are not inflected. Adverbs can go before or after the verbs they describe. Most adverbs are formed by adding the suffix ''-met'' to the end of an adjective's root form. Often, an adverb can be replaced with con (the word for with) preceding a noun describing a quality. In this case, they absolutely must be after the verb described. Sentence Structure Xahizengua boasts a quite free word order. Though interrogative sentences are generally VSO, and though all other sentences are generally SVO, there are many ways to arrange a sentence. For example, we'll take the English sentence: John has sold the small red house in the northern part of town to the rich family. and just a few possible ways to say that in Xahizengua are: Johaneso vendeve le-casi le-rube en le-septentre de le-civitule le-familijo le-dive. (John has sold the house the red in the north of the town (to) the family the rich.) Johaneso le-familijo le-dive vendeve le-casi le-rube en le-septentre de le-civitule. (John (to) the family the rich has sold the house the red in the north of the town.) 'Vendeve Johaneso le-casi le-rube en le-septentre de le-civitule le-familijo le-dive. ' (Has sold John the house the red in the north of the town (to) the family the rich.) Vendeve le-casi le-rube en le-septentre de le-civitule le-familijo le-dive Johaneso. (Has sold the house the red in the north of the town (to) the family the rich John) Johaneso le-casi le-rube en le-septentre de le-civitule le-familijo le-dive vendeve. (John the house the red in the north of the town (to) the family the rich has sold) Dictionary Example text Category:Languages Category:Romance conlangs